this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 63 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You're not wrong but there is one thing: hitting the ground is an instantaneous impact with a hard surface. Being swooped in some direction is a relatively slower process - the swooper is softer than concrete, and the change in velocity is spread over a longer period of time (even if it's still "instantaneous" to the casual observer, it can be an "instant" 100 times longer than ground impact).

It's like landing on a mattress vs a hard floor - from a high enough height both are deadly, but I'd still pick the mattress.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You ever ran into someone before?

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 32 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Flesh is still a lot softer than concrete

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 24 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] cyberic@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] havokdj@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

With balls of steel

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

So is water but it'll still kill you if you're falling at terminal velocity.

[–] deaf_fish@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] Khrux@ttrpg.network 9 points 8 months ago

I also assumed the swooper still decelerates you a little even if not by much. If you're falling at 50m/s as you are trying to slow your fall by taking a skydiver pose, and a superhero caches you midair, you could decelerate over half a second and stop moving within 12 meters while still only experiencing 10g.

12m is pretty tall but not insane in a superhero style piece of fiction where people may be dropped out the sky or from tall buildings. If you want to increase that g-force to the maximum survivable limit of near 100g (in theory), you'd only need to go from terminal velocity to 0m/s in 1.5 meters. Being reasonable, being caught 5 meters above the ground would be enough for most people to survive without major reprocussions, and is always better than hitting the ground.